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MEMOIRS 



OF 






OF 



It. ^John's 



ollege, ^Annapolis, 



READ ON COMMENCEMENT DAY, JULY 31st, 1872, 



BY 



J/ G. PKOUD, Jr., A.M., 

CHRONICLER. 



Printed by request of the Association of Alumni. 



ANNAPOLIS; 

1872. 



M EMOI R S 



OF 



©I©I^8IB) ALU) Minil 



OF 



ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, ANNAPOLIS, 

it 



READ ON COMMENCEMENT DAY, JULY 31st, 1872, 



BY 



J. G. PROUD, Jr., A.M., 

CHRONICLER. 



Printed by request of the Association of Alumni. 




ANNAPOLIS' 
1872. 



V 






NECROLOGY, 



THOMAS STOCKETT ALEXANDER, L L. 
JAMES EDGAR RICHARDSON, A. M« 



AflfKRTtSKR PRINT. 

ANNAPOLISi Mtfj 



M E M I R 

OF 

THQMAS S. ALEXANDER, LL.D. 



At our annual Festival four years ago we placed upon the 
roll of our deceased Alumni the name of John Henry Alex- 
ander — and now it becomes our duty to record the death of 
his not less distinguished brother Thomas S. Alexander. 

For the materials of the present notice we are principally 
indebted to a relative of his, a member of the Baltimore Bar. 

Thomas Stockett Alexander, the eldest son of William 
and Mary Alexander, was born in Annapolis on the 23rd of 
December, 1801. He was educated at Saint John's College, 
though he does not seem to have taken the usual academic 
degree. This is probably owing to the fact that it was 
during the long period of depression in the history of the 
College when no degrees were conferred ; an era, however, 
which was distinguished by the names of some of the most 
eminent of her sons, whose education was completed within 
her walls — among them those of Reverdy and John Johnson, 
Judge Nicholas Brewer, Philip Barton Key, and others well 
known in the annals of the State. But he is said to have 
been a close and methodical student, forming in College 
those habits of systematic application which characterized 
him all through his professional career. 

Upon leaving College he seems to have sought a clerkship, 
as affording immediate pecuniary return ; an object which 
the then straitened circumstances of his family made desira- 
ble. By the influence of a friend he was, however, persua- 
ded to begin the study of law, which he did under the direc- 
tion of the late Col. James Boyle^ afterwards Deputy Attor- 
ney General of the State for Anne Arundel County, sup- 
porting himself, in the meantime, in various clerical capaci- 
ties in the Legislature and different public offices in Annapolis. 



4 THOMAS S. ALEXANDER, LL. D. 

He was admitted to the Bar on the 21st of April, 1821, 
before he had attained his majority. It is said that he was 
much discouraged by his earliest efforts, though considered 
by others as evincing great promise. Favorable circum- 
stances induced him to apply himself specially to the study 
of the principles and practice of Equity, and his ambition 
seems to have been to become a thorough Chancery lawyer. 
His talent and assiduity were rewarded with early success. 
His business habits, quickness of apprehension and clear com- 
prehension of the principles of law, soon gained him the 
high esteem of many friends ; and upon a vacancy occurring 
in the office of Auditor of the Court of Chancery, their in- 
fluence procured him the appointment. From that time his 
future was assured, and his business in his favorite Court, 
as also in the County Courts and Court of Appeals, rapidly 
increased. 

In 1839 he published his (f Maryland Chancery Practice," 
a work of such singular accuracy that the Judges of the 
State constantly cite it as authority. From this time until 
the abolition of the Court of Chancery in 1851, he was em- 
ployed, on one side or the other, in every important case in 
that Court. 

On the death of Chancellor Bland, about the year 1846, 
he was offered the Chancellorship by Governor Pratt, but 
declined the appointment. In 1844 he had increased the 
sphere of his business by removal to Baltimore, where he 
continued to reside until the close of 1866, when he removed 
to Newark, New Jersey, pursuing his profession mainly in 
New York, but still retaining a portion of his Maryland 
practice, — many of his old clients being unwilling to give 
up his professional services. He thus continued in active 
labours, in the full possession of all his powers, until the 
commencement of the brief illness which terminated in his 
death at Newark, December 4th, 1871, having nearly com- 
pleted the seventieth year of his age. 

The absorbing object of Mr. Alexander's life seemed to be 
the science of law, and his chief aim to make himself a 



TKOMAS S. ALEXANDER, LL. D. 5 

learned and accomplished lawyer. He manifested very little 
ambition for political distinction. And yet he could not 
altogether disregard the public claims which talents and 
prominence such as his imposed. He consented to serve the 
State in the Legislature for several terms, representing his 
native City of Annapolis as a member of the House of Dele- 
gates during the sessions of 1836 and 183*1. In the latter 
term he was offered the Speakership, which he declined, pre- 
ferring the more useful position of a working member. He 
was the author of the legislative amendment to the Constitu- 
tion made at that period, under which the Governor was 
elected by the people. He also prepared the assessment bill 
of 1840 : , at the request of Robert W. Bowie, who was Chair- 
man of the Committee of Ways and Means of that year. 

In 1861, he served as one of the Representatives of the 
City of Baltimore. On each occasion, it is needless to say, 
he was one of the leading and most influential members of 
the House. Subsequently his name was presented by many 
appreciative friends as a candidate for the United States 
Senate. Perhaps his expressed views, too moderate and con- 
ciliatory to suit the temper of the times, were one of the 
chief obstacles to his selection. The arts of the politician were 
uncongenial alike to his habits and tastes, and he would have 
instinctively shrunk from the conflicts of an arena where 
intrigue and management are unhappily too oftemthe neces- 
sary conditions of success. 

Of every public enterprise of benevolence and utility he 
was an earnest and intelligent supporter, especially of the 
cause of Education. His efforts largely contributed to estab- 
lish, against vigorous opposition, the first Primary School in 
the City of Annapolis, and he was long an efficient trustee 
of the Public Schools of the county. He was also for several 
years a member, and for much of the time Secretary, of the 
Board of Visitors and Governors of the College, manifesting 
great interest in the welfare of the institution and giving 
valuable aid by legal advice and effective advocacy of its 
cause. The College has shoA^n her appreciation of his ehar- 



6 THOMAS S. ALEXANDER, LL. D, 

acter and attainments by conferring upon him her highest 
degree of Doctor of Laws. 

Mr. Alexander was a man of spotless life and irreproacha- 
ble character, of sympathetic heart and liberal hand, of 
integrity above suspicion, and friendship unalloyed by selfish- 
ness. He fulfilled all the duties of life, to his family, to his 
friends, and to his country with scrupulous fidelity. All 
his actions were prompted and controlled by a deep sense of 
religious responsibility. He was a consistent member of the 
Episcopal Church, an intelligent upholder of the tenets of 
her faith, and a liberal supporter of her temporal interests. 
As vestryman, and as a frequent delegate to her Diocesan and 
General Councils, he brought to her deliberations the stores 
of a well-furnished mind and an enlightened intellect. 

Thus living a life of labor and duty, of habitual integrity, 
purity and religious conviction, he was ready for the sum- 
mons, however sudden it might be. It is said that in his last 
visit here, under the apparent consciousness of failing health, 
he remarked to a friend: "I have lately had unmistakable 
warnings that I must set my house in order." Of one 
so methodical in temporal things, and so conscientious in 
all things, we may have a reasonable assurance that he 
was not less careful in Eternal things, that his " spiritual 
house" was so habitually "set in order,'.' as to entitle him, 
in humble faith, to realize the declaration of the Apostle 
that when the ' ' earthly house of this tabernacle should be 
dissolved, he had a building of God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the Heavens." 

It only remains to present an estimate of Mr. Alexander's 
character as a Lawyer. For the folloAving just and apprecia- 
tive sketch I am indebted to the member of the Bar to whom 
I alluded at the beginning, and which, with some omissions 
and unimportant alterations, I give substantially in his own 
words. 

For thirty years before his death he had a wide-spread re- 
putation as an able and accomplished lawyer. Though 
regarded as the leading Chancery lawyer of the State, 



THOMAS S. ALEXANDER, LL. D. 7 

arid second to none elsewhere, lie manifested the highest 
attainments and skill in other branches of his profes- 
sion. Whatever the subject with which he had to deal he 
showed the same grasp of principle, the same mastery of 
details, the same simplicity of deduction, which mark the 
great lawyer. His mind was so powerful and acute that he 
never mistook nor lost sight of the point of the case, nor 
failed to present it in its true and most attractive light. His 
ingenuity and readiness of resource were proverbial. His 
memory was minute and retentive, and his learning was so 
well digested that no question, however suddenly sprung 
upon him, found him unprepared. The Eeports of the State 
show the variety of the cases argued by him, and whether 
the subject were a question of account, for the discussion of 
which his mathematical turn of mind and habit of thought 
especially fitted him, or involved the most complicated in- 
tricacies of real estate law, every where we see the ready 
hand of a master. 

He was not less distinguished as an advocate. He was 
remarkably fluent, never hesitating for a word, yet his 
speeches might all be taken down as he delivered them 
without change and found just as logical, as well connected, 
and expressed in as pure English, as if he had spent many 
hours in their composition. 

An eminent French Lawyer has said — "I do not desire for 
''an advocate all the perfections which Cicero and others 
' ' require for their Orator; for I do not consider high eloquence 
" to be a principal qualification for an advocate. It is, indeed, 
"one of them and very useful in great pleadings ; but it is 
" not what is most required for the bar. What I desire in 
"my advocate is that he should learn to conduct well any 
"suit in which he may be engaged, to prepare the written 
"pleadings in proper form,, and, when he comes to plead; that 
"he should handle judiciously all the circumstances of the 
"cause, seize well the point upon which it hinges, and ex- 
" press himself in well-chosen language, plain and senten- 
tious rather than redundant and copious, supporting his 



8 THOMAS S. ALEXANDER, LL. D. 

" argument with pertinent reasons and formal and precise 
" authorities, texts of law, ordinances, customs, and deter- 
" urinations of jurists, without obscuring the subject with 
"superfluous matter, sometimes embellishing it with a touch 
"of sentiment, or a passing illustration from the Greek or 
"Latin, but so significant and to the point that it could not 
"be better expressed in the vernacular. In short, I desire 
' c for my advocate the contrary of what Cicero requires in his 
"orator, (which is eloquence in the first place and then some 
"knowledge of law) ; for I declare, on the contrary, that an 
"advocate should above all be learned in law and practice 
1 ' and moderately eloquent, more a dialectician than a rhe- 
"torician^ and more a man of business and judgment than 
"of great or long discourse." 

Any one who knew Mr. Alexander might almost imagine 
that he furnished the example from which these reflections 
were drawn. If such be a correct representation of the 
qualifications of an advocate, where will you find a more 
consummate advocate than he was? He always commanded 
the fixed attention of his audience, who were deeply im- 
pressed by his strong, logical arguments and his earnest style 
of speaking. His manner and appearance were much in his 
favor, and none could mistake his shrewd, alert and intel- 
ligent countenance and look. 

In person Mr. Alexander was spare and apparently frail, 
yet from the labors he habitually underwent and was capa- 
ble of to the last, he must have had, as all really great 
lawyers must have, an iron constitution. In early life his 
health had become somewhat impaired, but his temperate 
and frugal habits had restored it. No demand of hard and 
continuous work was ever made upon him, and such de- 
mands were constantly made, to which he was not adequate. 

Although he had an astonishing power of getting through 
work, lie was always at work ; and yet after fifty years of 
wear and tear his capacity for toil seemed undiminished, — 
and, to use a popular expression, "his head was just as 
level" as it had ever been. One short week before his death 



THOMAS S. ALEXANDER, LL. D. 9 

he was in Baltimore on business connected with an important 
suit in which he was engaged, and in the opinion of all who 
then saw him, his eye seemed not in the least dimmed, nor 
his natural force abated. But a cold which he contracted 
developed into an attack of typhoid pneumonia of so malig- 
nant a type as in a few days to exhaust the machine which, 
to all human appearance, seemed as if it had still twenty 
years to run. 




Printed for the Association op AttiMNi. 
Advertiser Print, Annapolis. 



NOTICE 

OF 

JAMES EDGAR RICHARDSON, A.M. 



It is seldom that we record the history of one of our older 
Alumni, gathered to his rest full of years and honors and 
ripe for the harvest, that we are not also called upon to 
chronicle the death of another member of our association at 
the outset of his career, buoyant with strength and hope, 
and with bright anticipations of the future. And thus is 
it now. 

A little over two months after the death of Mr. Alexander, 
the earthly life of James Edgar Richardson was brought to 
a close. While on a visit to his old home in this county he 
was attacked with double pneumonia, and died on the 16th of 
February, 1872. 

He was born July 10th, 1842, and after acquiring the 
rudiments of an English Education in the Primary Schools 
of the county, entered the Grammar School of Saint John's 
College in 1853 at the age of eleven years. Passing through 
the regular grades of the preparatory department and the 
collegiate course, he graduated in August, 1859, at the early 
age of seventeen, taking the second honor of his class and 
delivering the Salutatory oration. 

He received the degree of Master of Arts at the Commence- 
ment of 1869, upon which occasion he read an original poem. 
Shortly after graduating he began the study of the Law at 
Annapolis, under the direction of the Hon. Wm. H. Tuck. 
And subsequently, while pursuing his studies at home, he 
was elected Principal of Brooklyn Academy, Anne Arundel 
county, which position he held for about eighteen months. 
After this he continued his law studies at home for several 
years longer, contributing, in the meantime, quite frequent- 
ly to various periodicals and newspapers. He was admitted 



12 JAMES EDGAR RICHARDSON, A.M. 

to the Bar in the year 1869. After practising in this County, 
and to some extent in Annapolis, he removed to Baltimore 
in 1870., where he continued to reside up to the time of his 
death. 

Mr. Richardson was a man of considerable versatility of 
talent, of cultivated literary tastes, a ready writer and spea- 
ker, and a poet of no mean pretensions. At College he 
stood high in his class, and pursued his studies afterwards 
with great assiduity. 

From the number of years that he spent in the study of 
the law before his admission to the bar, it may be reasonably 
inferred that he had attained unusual proficiency in its lead- 
ing principles, and that, had his life been spared, he would 
have won an enviable reputation in his profession. 

He was a man of very amiable and genial disposition, and 
his manners and conversation never failed to attract to him a 
favorable regard. He seemed to have cherished an enthusi- 
astic attachment for his Alma Mater, and we can vividly re- 
fill the zest with which he entered into the spirit of our an- 
iLial festivals, and the earnestness with which he advocated 
vhat he supposed would promote the interests of the College. 
Had he lived he would doubtless have been with us to-day ; 
and we miss his clear and ringing voice, his pleasant smile 
and cordial greeting. In the contemplation of his untimely 
death, we cannot but deeply lament the early blight of what 
seemed to be the bud of so much hope and so much promise. 




yjFjARY OF CONGRESS # 

020 773 751 3 



